And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Posted at 08:17 a.m. PDT; Monday, July 12, 1999 http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/land_19990712.html Landfill sealing project proceeds by Sara Gonzalez Seattle Times Snohomish County bureau Two huge piles of dirt - more than 200,000 square feet of sand and soil visible from Interstate 5 at Marysville - are a sign that one of the largest Superfund projects in the Northwest is proceeding, if a little behind schedule. "Things are going well," said Robert Drake, community-relations officer for the Environmental Protection Agency's Seattle office. The EPA was involved in the design of the project to seal a 35-year-old landfill, which was leaching toxic metals and pathogens into ground water and nearby sloughs that feed into Puget Sound. The landfill covers 147 acres on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Seattle Disposal leased the land, which includes wetlands, from 1964 to 1979, disposing of an estimated four tons of commercial, industrial and medical waste. The landfill contains a "hodge-podge" of decomposing waste, including bricks, concrete, newspapers, syringes and other medical wastes, said Loren McPhillips, EPA project manager. The piles of sand and soil, dredged from the Snohomish River, are to be used in an intricate process to seal or cap the landfill to stop the toxic waste from entering Ebey Slough to the north and Steamboat Slough to the south. The sloughs feed into Puget Sound, where the pollutants are contaminating shellfish and salmon habitat. Because of the risk to the Sound and the need to prevent contamination of nearby wells, the site was given highest priority for cleanup and was added to the federal Superfund list in 1995. The next two years were spent designing the cap and preparing the site. The $16.7 million project is being paid for by the landfill's former users, including Seattle Disposal, the Tulalip Tribes, the University of Washington, Seattle Public Schools and Sears. An out-of-court settlement reached in 1997 determined the amount each will pay. Construction on the project, by a Marysville company called Waste Management, began in June 1998. The project is to be completed by next summer. About 27 acres of the landfill have been sealed, and production is expected to increase in the upcoming year, McPhillips said. The landfill cap is being built in three stages, McPhillips said. The first stage involves repositioning debris and recontouring the site into a domed peak so rainwater slides away. Next, a 12-inch layer of sand is added to act as a cushion for the waste. A thick plastic liner is placed on top of the sand, followed by plastic netting to drain rainwater from the landfill and into a collection system similar to a roof gutter. Then Geotextile, a material similar to felt, is placed on top of the netting to filter out dirt. A series of pipes acts as a gas-collection system, and a foot of topsoil planted with grass completes the cap. Once the capping is finished, the Tulalip Tribes will determine how the land will be used. No plans have been made, said Tom McKenzie, a tribal representative. Sara Gonzalez's phone-message number is 206-748-5811. Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
